


Harmonize

by trascendenza



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-07
Updated: 2007-10-07
Packaged: 2017-10-07 03:10:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/60804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trascendenza/pseuds/trascendenza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean-Luc and Data discuss the nature of voice and soul.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Harmonize

**Author's Note:**

> For tinheart.

Data finished the aria; the room reverberated for a few moments afterwards with the resonance of his performance.

Jean-Luc was nodding, humming appreciatively in his chest. "That voice of yours, Data. It's really very marvelous."

"It is perhaps inaccurate to refer to it as a 'voice,' sir, as that implies that I have vocal chords, which I do not posses."

Jean-Luc smiled, swirling the red wine in his glass. "It isn't a matter of the physiology. They could make a hundred other models to your exact specifications, but they would never be able to replicate your voice."

Data cocked his head to the side. "I am not sure I understand, sir."

Jean-Luc leaned forward. "You don't have to call me 'sir' when we're off-duty." Data nodded, so Jean-Luc continued, "You see, Data, it isn't the mere mechanics that produce the voice—it is the soul beneath them. And before you reject that notion—" He held up a hand to forestall the inevitable rebuttal about how Data did not have a soul installed in his program, "—just remember that no matter how far science has come since the dawn of man, it has not touched the soul. You cannot say with absolute certainty that you do not have one without empirical proof, can you?"

"According to my records on the cosmologies of the members of the Federation, while I cannot empirically state that I do _not_ have a soul, I can say with a high level of accuracy that the likelihood of a being such as myself possessing one is roughly point-zero-zero-seven-six percent."

Jean-Luc sighed a little, looking amused. Putting down his wine glass, he stood and then sat next to Data. He placed his right hand on top of Data's, palm at Data's wrist. His chest rose and fell slightly faster beneath the burgundy red of his Risian silk. The wine had flushed his skin an olive-rose, and the candlelight warmed his features from the usual cool reserve they held on the Bridge. Data's skin, a stark white in the rest of the ship's lighting, glowed with the ambiance cast, warm tinges of yellow bringing him to life.

"Data." He paused, the corners of his smiles deepening as he looked at the face before him, like he was taking part in a joke to which Data was not yet privy.

"Your song—your _voice_—has moved me. I am the greater for having heard it. You have touched my humanity, Data, don't you see? Can you truly stipulate that any sort of soulless replication of sound is capable of such?" Bringing his hand up, he hovered two fingers in front of Data's lips. "Do you really believe that, Data?"

"No, Jean-Luc," Data said, his lips just brushing the tips of Jean-Luc's fingers, "I do not."

"I didn't think so," Jean-Luc murmured as he leaned in, indulging in the tiny probability that even without voices, they could move together in counterpoint.


End file.
